From September 2017 through to August 2018 as part of the Heritage Project Activities we asked a question once a month about the local community. The responses that provided additional information about the community have been collected here.
You can view the questions here.
What were your earliest memories of attending an event at the Parish Hall? When? What was the event? What do you remember about the event? What do you remember about the Hall?
Harvest Summer
I have clear and fond memories going back to October 1981. Having recently arrived with my wife and three young boys to Worlington we were encouraged to attend the Harvest Supper in the Parish Hall. It turned out to be the place we would always remember as our introduction to the community and our home for the next 35 years. We were accepted and welcomed and I always feel that is where it all began and how grateful we are.
GB
Playgroup
My first memory of attending East Worlington Parish Hall was at playgroup. I can remember playing in a little house with Ben Crane and Judith Wall! I would have been 3 or 4 years old, so approx. 1976/7.
AW
Play school
I decided it was necessary to have a play school in Worlington. Called a meeting and was well supported in 1974. As there were many young families on farms and village who did not go out a lot. It would also be good for mums. We had a coffee morning to get started with equipment and staff. The hall was always the same. The equipment was kept in room on stage. The play school has been running over 40 years in Worlington.
RW
When to did the utilities of mains water, main electricity and telephone first come to East Worlington?
East Worlington was connected to mains water in 1952 and electricity in 1956/57 – see our Parish Hall Timelines page for more notable event dates.
The barn was sold by the Church to the community as a Parish Hall in 1920.
Who was the Rector of East Worlington at the time?
The East Worlington rector in 1920 was Rev Henry John Hodgson: read more about the Rev Hodgson here.
When was a kitchen first installed at the Parish Hall?
The first kitchen was installed around 1966, on this page you can view the Original Kitchen Plan.
Records show that the Home Guard hired the Hall during the Second World War.
Does anyone have any information about the Home Guard in the area?
There is information about the local home guard on our Interesting Fact 5 – Home Guard page.
Do you have any photographs of East Worlington Parish Hall over the last 100 years that you are willing to share to develop our visual archive of its history?
PENDING: We’re still collating the local photographs and deciding on the best way to showcase them.
How many royal events have been celebrated since 1920, e.g coronations, monarch birthdays?
PENDING: We’re planning to put all events on our Parish Hall Timeline 1900-present page and when we have them listed we’ll put the answer here.
When was the foyer and toilets extension at the front of the Hall built?
The toilets and front entrance were added in the late 1960s, you see a photo of the hall without the new front entrance here.
What natural materials are used in the construction of the Parish Hall?
The Parish Hall is a traditional Devon barn built of cob (a mix of local clay, small stones and straw) with a random stone plinth (foundation) rendered with a lime plaster render. More information is available on the problems and repairs required for this type of building construction, and our inspection of the hall floor during the 2015-17 renovation work.
When was the Parish Hall listed as a Grade II building?
The Parish Hall was listed Grade II on 3rd of October 1975 as Entry 1170913 on the Historic England Listing web site: we have a map detailing all of the local Listed Buildings the East Worlington Parish.
There is no conclusive evidence as to whether the barn was a Tithe Barn or a Threshing Barn. It was probably used for both purposes.
What is the difference between a Tithe Barn and a Threshing Barn?
A Tithe Barn was used in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes: traditionally a tithe was a tax of one-tenth of each farmers’ annual produce paid to a local church or rectory. A Threshing Barn was used to thresh and store local grain: threshing is where the grain (typically wheat or barley) is separated from from the husks and straw by beating the crop on a threshing floor usually of flattened earth or clay. The Parish Hall may well have been used for threshing at some point as our inspection of the hall floor during the 2015-17 renovation work showed the south end of the hall had a compacted earthen floor.
List all the ‘celebration’ events that you can that took place at the Parish Hall over the last 100 years.
PENDING: We are currently collating the list of events since 1920.
